This is why i'm not super excited by our wins while others at work are talking about 41+ wins or playoffs.

In reality our conditioning gives us an edge, but eventually other teams will catch up and we'll start winning less.

Winning now IS good for us though because it helps maintain that chemistry and the scrappy play will be invaluable later on.

35 games and i'm happy.  Anything over that and we overachieved big time!

but i want us to lose every game. No ammount of winning this year can replace the great feeling of landing the pick of the century next year, Greg Oden. He will be one of the ebst players of all time, will trumph shaq's legacy in a few years. getting that is worth more then 25 wins imo

That's funny stuff there!

I root for the Blazers to win every single game.  I will be ecstatic and overjoyed if they win tonight.  Even more so if they somehow win a couple games on this upcoming road trip.  (Good luck there...)  That said, the potential high draft pick is a good consolation prize if that doesn't work out.  But I can't look forward to it right now, let alone wish for it, when games are being played.

--Dave

Does anyone remember that we were last place, and had the best chance at getting the first pick?  Tanking the season, with the hope of landing Oden is ridiculous.  You could fantasize all you want, but in the reality of it, if we tank this season, we have a better chance of landing someone that isn't going to make an impact, than getting the first pick.

But if it was up to me, I'd rather spend my time fantasizing about the Blazer dancers and realizing that no matter what, this team is here to play for us, the fans.  

I appreciate all of their hard work.  If they won 22 games and didn't get the first pick in the draft, it won't matter, as long as they played hard all season and didn't roll over when the competition started geting tougher.

We should all thank Dr. Jack for teaching the core of solid Blazer fans what it's like to build from the ground up, and feel an attachment to the grassroots effort.

If you look at the Lakers, the fans enjoy the success, but do they love their players like Portland.  Hell no.  Every time we've had true success, we've built through the draft and followed our players as they grew into men.  Clyde, Terry, Jerome, a core of young guys not so different from Brandon, Jarret and Martell.  At least we know that if we back these guys, we're backing good guys who will give their hearts to winning these games for the fans, and for themselves.  

I don't think these guys will settle for last, even if it's in the predictions of most writers.  But if they do end up last, and they played hard every single game, Karma has to reward us with a little gimme.

Maybe it was a good thing that we ended up out of the first 4 picks.  Maybe the lottery fell as it did, to give us a real shot at picking the next greatest thing.  Who Knows?  But as long as our hearts (as fans) are in the right place, our players are going to feel that they belong, and give back whatever they can.

And that, is worth more than the first pick in the draft.

By the way, has anyone noticed a little softer commentary from Canzano?